Kirstie And The Cobra's
by SamEvans17
Summary: The Cobras Rugby Team at Hillside University for lack of a better word, sucks. They need a kicker because as hard as he trains their captain just can't get it right. So when Kirstin Maldonado sneaks onto the pitch with a couple of friends in the middle of the night and films herself kicking the perfect three point penalty, well that might just go viral...
1. Kick-Off

**A/N: So here we go Kirstie and The Cobras, it was inspired by the Nickelodeon show Bella and the Bulldogs, except that since I'm from New Zealand, and my country and I are Rugby mad. So it won't be American Football, mostly because I've never watched a game of that in my life so why write on something that I have absolutely no idea about: this is where Rugby comes in. So throughout this story if you don't understand something Rugby I've mentioned (I'll try my best to keep it simple) feel free to ask questions, I'm happy to answer any and all :)**

 **Minor cross-over with Glee (well my fave characters anyway :) and my all-time favourite Rugby player too, Beauden Barrett!**

 **All that's left to say is, I hope you enjoy!**

 **Chapter 1: Kick Off**

"ALL THE COBRAS NEED IS A DROP GOAL TO WIN THIS GAME, and they're going for it! Barrett's lining up, he drops! He KICKS! HE… misses… again. And the Panthers win, again."

The men in yellow all simultaneously stop, glancing across at each other, some shaking their heads, others looking at the sky.  
Beauden had his hands interlaced behind his head as he stood staring at the H shaped goal posts.  
"Don't worry Cap, we'll get them next time."  
"Avi I swear you've said that every time," Beauden shakes his head turning around to face his team mate.  
"And one time I'm bound to be right," he says with a smile.  
Avi and Beauden make their way over to where the rest of the team was starting to gather and trying to ignore the obnoxious yells of the purple clad Panthers.  
"When are you going to learn to kick?" Jeremy calls across the circle.  
Scott turns to his locking partner beside him, "When are you going to learn to shut up?"  
With a sneer Jeremy replies, "When he learns to kick."  
"Why don't you learn to kick and tell us how easy it? Cause it ain't!" Mitch glares at the number 4.  
"Everyone just needs to stop arguing okay," Avi shouts out in his low voice, making everyone stop.  
Beauden nods a thank you at Avi. "I swear to you all that I'm working on it every week, all week, and you all see that, so stop giving me shit unless you think you can do better okay."  
From beside the captain Kevin speaks up, "Might want to watch your language."  
Beauden runs his hands down his face, "You sound like my girlfriend," he says with a sigh. "You know what let's just go to the locker rooms, clean up, we'll talk on Monday." He nods once and the team disperses.

…

In the dark empty stadium three girls step onto the pitch, the first one a lot faster and more determined, also shorter with an object tucked under her arm. The other two more hesitant and the tallest of the three was lagging behind the most, biting her nails as she jogged along.  
The first girls stops and waves the other two closer, "Esther! Marley! Hurry up!"  
"We shouldn't be down here, we shouldn't be down here," Marley recites as her and Esther step up beside Kirstie.  
"Oh hush, you're dating the Captain, we'll be fine," Kirstie rolls her eyes. She manoeuvres the ball from under her arm and into her hands with a mischievous grin on her face. "You two are gonna video me showing Beauden Barrett how it's done."  
Marley pulls a face, "He's not gonna like this Kirst."  
"Tell him it was your idea, he'll be fine," she shrugs, handing Marley her phone. "Es, can you film it from the post, I want a good shot of it going over."  
Esther nods, "Yeah, I'll just," she points to the end of the field as she starts running towards the goal posts.  
Kirstie laughs as her friend runs half the field like a goofball. "And you," she turns to Marley, "Record it on my phone, and Beaudy doesn't even have to know you were a part of this. Just follow me as I walk and talk," she nods, facing the camera with a smile as Marley starts the recording.  
 _"Hi, my name is Kirstin Maldonado and I,"_ she starts to slowly walk backwards and Marley follows along, keeping a reasonable sized distance away. _"Am going to drop kick this ball,"_ she holds up the rugby ball next to her head. _"Right from the very spot that Captain Fantastic missed it this afternoon."_ Kirstie smirks at the camera, then turns, jumping with both feet, and landing solidly just a bit closer to the posts. She turns a smile over her shoulder, blinking flirtatiously then drops the ball on her foot and kicks it through the air and right between the two posts. She spins around, her hair flicking out as she puts her face right up to the camera, _"And that Cobras is how it's done!"_

 **A/N: Sooooo… what cha think? Worth continuing? Worth scrapping? You want to know where this goes? You never want to see another update from this again…? Thoughts? Ideas? Votes?**


	2. Props

**A/N: Just to clarify, this story is set in the US, and in College, it's just Rugby because that's what I know.**

 **Chapter 2: Props**

Kirstie and Marley were leant against a wall outside the building their last shared class has been held in.  
With her eyes closed Kirstie speaks, "This sun is great, that air con the teacher had going, and then the fan was right next to me, just about turned into a Kirstie-cle." She laughs turning to look up at her taller friend.  
"Yeah it was cold, but I probably shouldn't be standing in the sun."  
"You gonna react?"  
"I'm already braking out," she pouts, lifting her arm up just slightly to show Kirstie the red spots.  
"Let's get under a tree then?" Kirstie raises an eyebrow as she takes a couple of steps backwards, "You know you should really think about getting a parasol or something?" she takes another step backwards as Marley starts to follow her. She steps right into someone and whirls around, then almost smacks into Marley in her haste. "Oh," her shocked face falls for one of boredom, "It's only you," she half smiles, looking out the corner of her eye at her giddy friend beside her.  
"Yeah, only me," he nods then leans in to kiss Marley quickly on the lips. Marley gives Beauden a closed-mouth goofy smile as he pulls away and he can't help but smile back.  
"Can we please go under the tree now?" Marley asks as she lightly stars to scratch at her arms. Beauden reaches out to take both her hands to stop her then leads her over the trees, Kirstie follows behind them, glancing around a lot more than she usually would.  
There were two options here, either Beauden hadn't seen the video, or he was pretending to be okay with everything because his girlfriend was present.

After a god half hour of third-wheeling the lovey couple Kirstie had decided that he didn't know. She was also surprised that Marley hadn't blurted anything out, she loved the girl to pieces but Marley Rose could not keep a secret. Kirstie glances at her best friend, that girl claimed to be up past her bed time last night, so maybe she didn't remember because for some reason Marley couldn't function after ten. It had been two past ten when Marley had agreed to go on the pitch with Kirstie and Esther, therefore she was already in za-za land.  
Kirstie couldn't help but get lost in her own head as she thought about the time she'd had New Years with Marley, Beauden, Esther and Esther's brother (she could never remember his name, it was something weird and she hadn't clicked with it), and one of his friends had been there too, the one Esther has a major crush on, Kevin or something. Anyway Kevin and Esther's brother were on the rugby team with Beauden so they all knew each other and got along, but that wasn't the point either. Marley didn't make it to midnight, she never did, but this had been the closet she'd ever gotten, and the poor girl had almost seemed drunk being up so late for her. Marley and Beauden had been dating not quite a month at the point and Marley blurted out how much she loved him and well embarrassment ensued, luckily Marley didn't remember a thing like she had honestly been drunk, which would never happen because she is as sober as she is celibate. But to this point, as far as Kirstie knows Marley and Beauden hadn't said the three big words since Marley's outburst and it had been almost a year now.  
Kirstie is thrown from her thoughts when Esther drops down beside her.  
"How you doing?" she asks as she pushes her glasses up her nose. And she wasn't alone, her brother sat down beside her, where Kirstie could just see him, his hair was a lot longer than the last time she'd paid attention to him, it was tied up and now his beard had really come in… he was kind of hot.  
"Quit staring at him you weirdo!" Esther laughs as she snaps her fingers in front of Kirstie's face.  
He just smiles and looks down, and then anywhere but at Kirstie.  
"So did you actually post it or not? Cause I don't think anyone saw," Esther asks.  
Kirstie jumps up on her knees and covers Esther's mouth in such a haste that she almost knocks her over. Esther pushes her back out of shock and sends her into Avi's lap from which she immediately jumps up and steps right into another Rugby player, Jeremy this time.  
"Well shit!" Kirstie says as she lets out a breath she didn't know she was holding.  
Marley's head shoots up as she speaks to Kirstie, "Watch your language."  
Kirstie rolls her eyes with a slight smile as she turns back to Jeremy. "What do you want Lewis?" she raises an eyebrow.  
"Well I'm starting to think that Barrett set the whole thing up, which was stupid because it makes him look useless since a girl can do what he can't."  
Esther leans closer to her brother, "Who's Barrett?" she whispers.  
"Beauden," he answers.  
Beauden stands up and takes a step closer to Jeremy and Kirstie, "What are you talking about."  
Jeremy holds up his phone and Avi stands up to have a look too. "This," Jeremy says with a frustrated sigh as he presses play on the screen and holds it out so that the men either side of him could see.  
"Uh-oh" Marley whispers under her breath. Esther reaches up to lightly grip Kirstie hand as best as she could manage as the video started and Kirstie's voice rang out.  
 _"Hi, my name is Kirstin Maldonado and I … Am going to drop kick this ball … Right from the very spot that Captain Fantastic missed it this afternoon …"  
_ Beauden slowly looks at Kirstie with the slightest look of hatred before he turned his gaze back down to watch her kick the ball through the posts. _"And that Cobras is how it's done!"  
_ Avi looks up at Kirstie with his head still down, and a smile playing at his lips, before he covers it with his fist and turns away from the scene.  
Beauden, without spearing Kirstie, or anyone a glance, leans down beside Marley to pick up his backpack, then walks off with his fists clenched, one around the strap if his bag and the other by his side.  
Marley jumps up, running after him, waving a quick sorry at Kirstie.  
"Oi! Barrett!" Jeremy yells after him, "Don't you know that's how it's done!" he laughs out loud like he's the funniest person ever then casts a smirk at Kirstie before he gets slapped across the face.  
Kirstie looks up at him, turned away from her, "Yeah, so we're officially done you jack-ass," she clenches her teeth as she talks and shoots him a death glare when he turns back to face her.  
"Whatever, you're not even that hot anyways!" he yells after her as she walks away with Esther behind her.  
"Don't tell lies," Avi points a warning finger at the taller man as he walks backwards to follow after his sister then turns around in a run.

A/N: What do you think? I'm trying to give a little back story and what not, do we want more of it? Is there any characters you'd like to know a bit more about? I have a skeleton for this story, but at this early stage I'd love to know what you guys want to see with this to keep you all coming back.

Your votes and comments make my day :)


	3. Scrumming

**A/N: *que odd singing tune* Chapter 3 is here, chapter 3 is here and I am so excited! Things are now on track! Woo!**

 **Chapter 3: Scrumming**

Kirstie sat slouched down in her seat across from Marley at the campus café. She was staring down at her cup of coffee and picking at her muffin.  
Marley barely looks up at Kirstie, they'd agreed to meet but it had been a little bit awkward. So the brunette starts slowly, "He's not mad."  
Kirstie shakes her head slowly, "Tell me the truth Marls."  
"No really, he'd not mad, more… sad?" she shrugs, playing with the plastic lid of her cup of hot chocolate.  
Kirstie's head snaps up, "That makes me feel worse."  
Marley's eyes widen, "No," she shakes her head quickly, "No I didn't mean to do that… Kirstie I shouldn't say anything I can't get into the middle of this… we should talk about something else." She places the lid back on her cup then clasps her hands in front of her as she glances around trying to think. "How's Jeremy?"  
Kirstie relaxes back with a roll of her eyes, "Guess you didn't get that memo, I broke up with him."  
"Finally," Marley breaths out, a smile forming on her face.  
Kirstie raises an eyebrow, "Sorry what?"  
Marley's face drops, "Nothing, I said nothing," she gives her a big, cheesy nervous smile, her eyes darting around.  
"You're glad I broke up with my boyfriend?"  
"Well no, and yes. I'm sad you broke up with your _boyfriend_ but I'm happy you broke up with _Jeremy_ ," she nods slowly, pulling at her fingers.  
Kirstie watches her for a moment. "Forget this, let's go to the field," she stands up, her chair squealing loudly, she ignore the looks she gets and picks up her backpack, slinging it over her shoulder. Marley does the same, but cautiously keeps her chair quiet and smiles at her owl shaped backpack as she pulls in on both shoulders, adjusting her hair as she skips out after Kirstie.

 _...crouch…bind…set…_

Kirstie and Marley arrive at the field in silence, then Marley takes off running across the field and Kirstie watches her dumfounded because Marley _never_ runs. The short blonde stops at the side line, folding her arms as she watches Marley run up to her boyfriend, who was practicing his kicking. He was wearing a singlet and rugby shorts and she knew that Marley would probably scold him for not being cautious in the sun, or just go straight up to him and start putting sunblock on him like the other week. Kirstie had to admire his dedication though; she knew practice had ended at least two hours ago.  
Another ball sails through the air just pulling to the left, but it had been a god kick, and Kirstie noted that he would have made it if he hadn't have jabbed the ball with his foot like he did.  
Beauden spins around as Marley arrives behind him, slightly out of breath.  
"We didn't know you'd be here Beaudy," she tells him, as she dramatically leans against him, and falls just slightly so he catches her, then closes her eyes and sticks her tongue out as she pretends to play dead. "I just ran," she says with her tongue still out and her eyes still closed.  
Beauden laughs as he stands her upright again, wrapping his arms around her he leans in to place a quick kiss on her lips. "What do you mean we?"  
Marley looks around Beauden's shoulder at Kirstie, he follows her gaze and his face falls when Kirstie starts walking towards him.  
He pulls away from his girlfriend and starts to gather up his belongings, "Marls, why'd you bring her here?" he asks with a tired sigh.  
"She wanted to come to the field, like I said we didn't know you'd be here," she pouts and plays with the straps on her backpack.  
"Hey Kiwi-boy," Kirstie tries with a smile, but Beauden ignores her. "Look Beauden, I had an idea. What if we made this a good thing, I could teach you some better techniques, like before you ju-"  
Beauden turns around, holding his hand up, "I am not going to take pointers from you, okay yeah you're good, I'm not saying you're not, but go join the girls team and leave me alone… I don't need my team losing respect for me okay and listening to you is exactly what that'll be," he nods once, dropping his hand.  
"But Beaudy she got the kick over, I've seen her get them from the side, both sides, she can't get them as far as you though, you could both help each other," Marley tries.  
Beauden shakes his head, but give Marley a small smile, "You're absolutely right, but it just can't happen," he gives her a quick kiss on the forehead as he goes to walk off.  
Marley turns to Kirstie, "I might go with him, I'll catch you later yeah?" she hugs her best friend then takes off after her boyfriend.  
Kirstie turns and makes her way off the field in the opposite direction with her head down. She shoves her hands in the pockets of her jeans and leans up against the front board of the bleachers looking out onto the pitch.  
As she stares out onto the green that she shot her video on she can't help but wonder if it had been the right thing to do. Sure it had seemed like a great idea at the time, she hadn't thought it would upset one her friend this much. For as long as Kirstie had known him, Beauden had always been the guy to let things roll of his back, so she couldn't figure out why this was so different. Maybe it was because that guy practically lived and breathed rugby, it was something Marley had to adjust to with dating him. The brunette hadn't minded because he was making compromises for her too, or at least being patient with her as Marley would say.  
Kirstie is snapped from her thoughts when a slightly family voice speaks out.  
"Just the girl I've been looking for."  
"And why would you be looking for me…" she trails off, going to say his name, she never remembered it, but it started with A and was something different.  
"I have watched that video so many times since Jeremy showed us a couple of days ago' the deep voiced man tells her. "Then I showed it to coach."  
Kirstie snaps to attention and takes a step towards the bearded man, "You what!"  
He holds his hand sup, surrendering, "Don't worry, it's all good news, well god for you, bad for Beauden, which sucks because he's a good guy. But in the end it's good for him and bad for Mitch Grassi, you know him right? Of course you do," he waves her off as he continues to word vomit all his thoughts.  
"What?"  
"Coach wants you to try out for number 10."  
"Beauden plays 10."  
"Oh, so that's your first thought, not that you know you're a girl and this is a guy's team and this insane because you're gonna get hurt, and yet you'll be amazing and hopefully won't get hurt."  
"You talk a lot!"  
Avi scratches the back of his head, "Only when I'm nervous."  
"But Beauden plays 10, he already hates me, I can't try out."  
"Try out is kind of a loose term, you've already got the spot."

 **A/N: Oooooooo! How do you guys think Beaudy will react when he finds out? Best idea might just get included ;)**


	4. Fly-Half

**Chapter 4: Fly Half**

Kirstie couldn't figure out why this coach wanted her on the team so bad, he hadn't seen the high school footage too had he? She shakes the thought from her mind as she steps up behind the group of guys on the field all in their practice kits, she in somewhat of her own too.  
Next thing she knew Coach was striding towards her, through the group, he took a hold of her arm and pulled her to the front of the group of about thirty. Kirstie only knew about 10 personally, the rest she'd seen play at one time or another, there was one face she couldn't spot though and her stomach dropped.  
"This here boys, is Kirstie she can kick 'em, and kick 'em well. And she knows her rugby, she played in high school, and since there's no girls team here, well she's joining ours."  
And the team starts in:  
"But she's a girl?"  
"Where's Beaud's?"  
"She can't join!"  
"What the fuck?"  
Kirstie was spun around by Jeremy, who kept a tight grip on her shoulders, "What do you think you're doing?"  
"I think I'm joining a team I was asked to," I spit back. "Let go of me." He doesn't listen and just keeps staring down at her until coach and none other than Beauden pull him away.  
"Lewis, cut it out," Coach tells him, "Take a lap." There is a chorus of Ooooos from the team and Kirstie resists the urge not to smirk. The rest of the team disperses as coach sends them to drills.  
Kirstie grabs Beauden's arm as he's walking away, "Beaud-"  
He holds up his hand, and shrugs his arm away from her, "Don't bother, I am not ready to hear anything you have to say."  
"We're going to have to at least try and get along for Marley."  
He shakes his head slowly, "She'll understand, you can spend some time with her, I can spend some time with her, but we will not be spending time together with her. We are not friends, we are in a team together, that is all and after this we speak of nothing unless it is Cobra related, we don't see each other unless it is Cobra related. Do you understand?"  
Kirstie watches him with narrowed eyes, "What ab-"  
"Kirstie I am your captain, I can make this difficult for you, so do you understand?" he asks through clenched teeth.  
"Yes sir."

Kirstie sat with Avi during the five minute break because it didn't seem like any of the other guys were about to talk to her. She was sipping on her water bottle at the edge of the field when he flopped down next to her.  
"Good job centre," she tells him with a smile, patting his stomach as he star-fished on his back.  
"How are you not as exhausted as I am?"  
"Because isn't letting me do anything," she says with a sigh. "Have you not noticed that?"  
"Yeah, he doesn't think you can take the hits."  
"But I can, I played in high-"  
"Against other girls Kirstie, how are you gonna be when Mario takes a run at you, or worse someone on an opposing team who doesn't care and wants you to get hurt?"  
"What these guys care?" she raises an eyebrow, turning to Avi as he sits up.  
"Well maybe they don't yet, but they will, all of them will. I can introduce you to a couple of them later if you like?"  
Kirstie nods, "That'd be nice, thank you," she smiles. "But can I ask you something?"  
"Shoot."  
"Why are you so nice to me?"  
"Well you're friends with Esther," he shrugs, "And someone's gotta look out for you here," he chuckles.  
Kirstie rolls her eyes with a laugh, "Oh thanks."  
"But in all seriousness, I want to win, and can you think about how major this is, having you on the team? A girl? That's just never happened before."  
"No it hasn't, but only because coach treats me like a delicate little butterfly, and yet he's gonna expect me to play, Avi I need to practice getting hit!"  
"You finally remembered my name," he smiles.  
"Shut up," she laughs and shoves him aside. "Lets get back to practice, I'm gonna tell coach you're gonna practice tackles with me."  
"Me, why me?"  
She smirks, "Because besides Mitch Grassi you're the smallest guy on the team," she springs up from her spot and Avi quickly follows.  
"Am not! Darien s shorter than me… Well at least I think he is. I'm almost six foot," he points a finger at her to stop her in her tracks.  
"I didn't necessarily mean height, it's mass and well you have chicken legs," she points down at his legs. "And don't point at me or I'll break your finger."  
Avi drops his finger, and links his hands behind his back.  
Kirstie smiles at him, "Good, this is gonna be fun," she nods once then skips off back to join the rest of the team.

 **A/N: A Fly-Half for those of you who didn't know is the proper name in rugby for the number 10 position they're Number 10, Fly-half or First-five-eighth, yeah I know, it's confusing :P  
I hope you guys like the chapter, please don't forget to comment and vote, they really make my day and keep me motivated!**


	5. First Five-Eighth

**A/N: Beware for there is a fair bit of rugby speak in this one, if something makes absolutely no sense, or if your just a bit confused then there is no shame in asking me what the hell I'm talking about? Lol, I won't be offended.**

 **Chapter 5: First-Five-Eighth**

Kirstie sits at a table with Avi, and few of the friends he'd said he'd introduce her too on the team. It turned out that his better friends happened to be ones she'd met on occasion but had never really had much to do with them. Scott Hoying, Mitch Grassi and Kevin Olusola.  
Esther would be joining us a bit later too, and Kirstie definitely knew her, she was one of her better friends.  
The place was loud, and was pretty much a hangout for Cobras and friends of Cobras, then there were a whole bunch of other randoms there too, because let's face it, the Cobras weren't that big of a deal.  
"So Kirstie, besides the video what makes coach think you'll be better than Beauden?" Scott asks.  
Kirstie shrugs, "Well I played in high school, but it wasn't a big deal. And I don't even know how he found out."  
"I researched you," Avi speaks up. "It's not weird or anything," he adds quickly in his defence.  
"It wasn't until to you said it wasn't," Scott says seriously then laughs.  
"Well since you're so good Kirstie why don't you tell us all what we can improve on," Kevin says, leaning on his hands as he speaks and quizzically raises an eyebrow.  
"Well… okay," she nods, "I'll start Scott."  
Kevin leans back, having not expected her to take him on the offer.  
Scott points at himself, "Me? What?"  
"Well for starters you're too shy, you throw away the ball before you tackled every time, a forward, any forward 1 through 8 shouldn't be afraid to go to ground to gain even the slightest bit of advantage. You're the tallest guy on the team, make them try, make it impossible to get you down, run at them," she nods surely.  
Scott listens intently, open-mouthed.  
Kirstie turns to Mitch.  
Mitch shakes his head, "I'm on the bench now, Beauden coming in as number 15 is more than a relief to me," he laughs.  
"But it shouldn't be, as a guy on the bench you should be itching to get on the field. You shouldn't be happy that Beauden took your spot, you should be fighting for it back: not that you'll get it because he's the captain, but none the less make him work for it."  
"It'd make him and me better," Mitch nods slowly.  
Kirstie nods with a smile on her face, "Exactly, and Kevin. You're doing pretty good as is, both you and Avi," she turns to the other man briefly. "You're a perfect mid-field pair, you're best friends and you know each other: use it! From what I've observed you two can almost read each other's thoughts. You just need to know when to pass it to Avi, and be ready if he needs to pass it back, get it to your wingers quickly. Fake a left if it's gonna get to your partners hands on the right, take a hit for one another. And this goes for the whole team right, don't be afraid of the ball."  
All four of them nod as if knowing _yep that sure is a major problem with us lot._  
"Honestly you guys, Beauden's the only one who goes for the catch on the high ball, he's the only one with guts enough to kick it down the field for possession, he runs with the ball, he makes ground and he's not afraid of being tackled, that's how the whole team plays. Nothing pisses me off more when the team and everyone blames Beauden for not being able to make the kicks when he's the only one actually playing the game. He's the only one getting somewhere; he's the one who creates something out of nothing. Kevin?" she turns back to face him.  
"Yeah?" he nods.  
"Who passed who chipped the ball through when you scored the one and only try last week?"  
Kevin pauses briefly, "Beauden, it was the perfect little kick through," he nods slowly."  
"Mitch? Who a couple of weeks ago, in the Cobras' only try against the Coyotes chased the ball 80 meters down the field then selflessly passed the ball to you so you could get your first ever try?"  
"Beauden," he says almost shyly.  
Kirstie whips her head around to face Scott, "And Scott? When you fumbled the ball in the lineout who saved it falling into Cowboy possession in the one game you guys have won this season, that then resulted in Avi's second try of the night?" she looks between both Scott and Avi.  
They both answer together, "Beauden."  
"Exactly!" Kirstie practically yells as she stands up, her hands flailing wildly, "That's what the teams needs to understand you all need to play more like Beauden! I mean can you imagine now how much better he's going to be now that he won't have to worry about the kicking?! It won't be playing at the back of his mind, he'll be scoring try after try, and then setting you all up for so many more, I mean maybe not you Scott because we all know it's the backs that score the tries, but who knows right? With a player like him as Captain we are gonna rock this thing!" she cheers, holding her hand for high fives, circling round the boys, saving Avi until last, giving him a beaming grin she holds her hand up for a high five.  
Avi slaps her hand and clasps it, smiling back "Rock and roll."

 **A/N: So did that all make sense to anyone else but me? If it did, I hope you enjoyed it, if not I'm really sorry, but I hope you still liked anyways :)**

 **Please leavea review, there is nothing better to me than waking up to see you guys have enjoyed my writing :D**


	6. Two Penalty's

**A/N: The Hurricanes just won 41-6 :D :D So here's a chapter, turns out I was slumped by their losses :P**

 **Chapter 6: Two Penalty's**

Kirstie rolls over and smacks into the wall, her eyes immediately open as she reaches up to clutch her forehead. With her hand pressed against it she turns her head just slightly, now squinting because of the surprising amount of light in the room. Her eyes only widen further and her breath hitches when she realises that she hit her head on the wall only because she was in this single bed, with another person, and it wasn't her bed!  
She finally takes a breath as her brain catches on that's Avi beside her, and she knows him, so that's okay, but still. She lifts the sheet to take a peak and immediately slams the covers back down, then with her other arm she whacks the man beside her in the chest. His eyes don't open, but his hand shoots up to the spot she'd hit him, and he starts talking.  
"Five more minutes Kev."  
Kirstie starts tapping him repetitively on the chest, harder and faster until his hand takes a hold of hers, stopping her. He rolls over in his tight spot and opens his eyes, he reels back. He slips a little from the bed, but stops himself from completely falling out by bracing himself on the floor with his other arm.  
"Kirstie?" he says, all the while not taking his eyes off her.  
She bunches the sheet up around her chest, and he lets go of her hand to stop her from taking all of the fabric, keeping himself covered in the process, but still half off the small bed.  
"Fuck," Kirstie mumbles under her breath.  
"I think we did," Avi tells her in all seriousness.  
She springs forward with the sheet still clutched to her and punches Avi in the jaw, not enough to really hurt either of them, but enough to shock him and shut him up.  
"What happened?" she asks in a panic.  
Avi shakes his head as he pulls himself up to sit up in the bed, "I don't know, I mean my head kinda hurts now that I think about it."  
"We slept together Avi, we were obviously drunk."  
"What's that supposed to mean?" he casts a small frown at her as she sits up beside him.  
"That you're not the kind of guy I usually go for," she pushes her blonde locks back in the sweeping gesture, lightly massaging her scalp as she does.  
"What? Nice?"  
She clenches her jaw, "You're gonna shut up or I'm going to punch you again, and this time it will actually hurt," her words turn into a hiss as her face inches closer to his.  
"Is it weird that I really want to kiss you right now? Even though you're not attracted to me at all, and only slept with me because you had alcohol clouding your judgement… wait that's not my issues, I mean it hurts that you don't think I'm attractive, because I think you're beautiful. So I'm gonna say I'm happy this happened."  
Kirstie is about to speak when she stops, breaking into a small smile, "You just said I was beautiful?"  
He shrugs, "Well yeah, cause you are," he turns, looking partially over his shoulder at her.  
"I've never been called beautiful by a guy before, it's always hot or sexy, never beautiful," her cheeks start to turn red as she looks down, playing with her hands.  
"I stand by my statement."  
Kirstie reaches forward, grabbing his shoulder and pulling him back to lie down on the bed. Leaning on her elbow, she hovers just slightly over him, "And I never said I wasn't attracted to you."  
He reaches up to tuck a few stay strands of hair behind her ear, as she bites her lip, staring down at him. He places his hand on the back of her head as she leans closer to connect their lips in a slow passionate kiss. Avi snakes his other around her waist as she leans closer to him, deepening the kiss.  
Almost carefully, Avi turns them over so he was hovering above her, starting to trail kisses down her neck and shoulder.  
"You do realise that this is going to have to be our little secret right?" she tells him, slightly out of breath.  
"Yeah," Avi mumbles into her neck.  
"If the team found out then, well any respect I've gained, which is barely any, will be gone, and I can't have that. To run the backline smoothly I'll need respect."  
"You have mine, I'm backline," he tells her, leaning up on his elbows to look at her properly.  
"But Darrien? Jake? Kevin? Todrick? And… Beauden? Worst of all him."  
With a sigh, Avi sits up in the bed, "He respects you Kirstie, he knows how good you are, Beauds? He's just a little surprised I guess, upset maybe because he's always played fly half. But he does respect you Kirstie," he nods surely. "But you're right, we can't tell them, no one, Kevin is my best friend and I won't even tell him. But that might be hard since I share this room with him, and so he might already know, in which case we can trust him with the secret."  
"Well in all fairness I'd say I'd want to tell my best friend, except I can't because she has this thing where she can't keep them, and worst of all she's dating our captain. All in all telling Marley would defeat the purpose of a secret," she huffs.  
"So to clarify, the only one who can know is Kevin, and that's only if he already knows? Oh… what about Esther? I don't usually not tell my sister things."  
Kirstie turns to him with an 'are you kidding me' look, "So you tell your sister all about your sex life do you?" she raises an eyebrow as Avi turns red.  
"No I don't, I didn't think of it like that."  
Kirstie's slight smirk drops as she fully realises where Avi was, "This is just sex right? I mean I'd want to tell people if I were in a relationship, so it can't be that okay."  
Avi nods quickly, "Oh yeah, I knew that… totally knew that," he gives her a half smile then looks around the room nervously.  
"I'm sorry if that's what you wanted Av-"  
"No it's fine, I totally understand where you're coming from. You don't want a relationship with another team member defining you instead of you talents. I do understand what you're saying Kirst." He gives her another half-smile, this time more genuine, but fake.

 **A/N: Well I'm happy that I got that written, I hope you guys liked it :)**

 **Please vote, comment, all that good stuff, make my day,**

 **Love Hannah :)**


	7. Flanker

**A/N: So I went to my first ever live rugby game and it was amazing, not the Hurricanes, but I still got to support a New Zealand team, Highlanders the champions of last year in fact and they won so convincingly! It was so much fun, and so here's your late chapter :)**

 **Chapter 7: Flanker**

"…Number 4 Jeremy Michael Lewis, Number 5 Scott Hoying, Number 6 Ryder Lynn, Number 7 Sam Evans, Number 8 Alex Kirk, Number 9 Darrien Koop, Number 10… Beauden Barrett…"  
Both Beauden and Kirstie jump up from their spots either side of Avi.  
"You've been prepping me for 15 all week coach," Beauden complains.  
As Kirstie goes to speak, Coach starts first. "Let me finish before you all interrupt. Number 11 Jake Puckerman, Number 12 Kevin Olusola, Number 13 Avi Kaplan, Number 14 Todrick Hall, Number 15 Mitch Grassi." He goes on to list the reserves then he looks up at Kirstie, "And water bo-girl, Kristen Maldonado."  
"Kirstin," Avi and Beauden say at the same time, and glance at each other before back at the coach. Kirstie drops back into her spot with a pout and a shake of her head.  
"Clear out now boys, and Kirstin, I'll see you tomorrow before the game," Coach says as the rest of the team start to move out.  
Kevin, Mitch and Scott wait near the door, visible and just able to hear. Beauden steps ahead of Kirstie and Avi, right up to coach.  
"Why are you doing this? You brought Kirstie onto the team so we could start winning and then you don't even put her on the bench! Coach that's not fair to anyone."  
"Barrett, I don't want to hear your complaining, it's not just my decision. And based on your fit last week when I recruited her, I thought you'd be happy about this. Now I don't want to hear any more about this, the team named is the team playing. You might get your chance next game Kristen."  
"Kirstin," Kirstie, Avi and Beauden all say.  
"Right, right," Coach nods as he leaves to his office with his clip board.  
Beauden turns around, "Mitch," he waves him over.  
"Yes captain," he nods.  
"Mate, how was your trip?"  
Mitch furrows his brow.  
Beauden stares at him for a moment before sighing and trying again, "How will your trip go? The small one you're going to take then talk to Coach about."  
"I'm not taking a trip."  
"If you don't "take a trip" then I'm going to have to actually break your foot," Beauden tells him half threateningly.  
Mitch takes a step back then yells out in pain. Beauden grabs Kirstie's arm and runs, pulling her out of the locker room after him. In a moments decision, the Captain turns back and nods Avi over to follow them. The three leave and wait just outside, pressed against the wall, listening.  
Mitch crouches on the ground clutching his ankle and crying out, Kevin and Scott step up either side of him as Coach steps out of his office.  
"What's going on?" he asks loudly.  
Mitch continues to yell out so Scott answers for him, "He tripped over the seat when he rushed back for his phone Sir."  
"You're over reacting Grassi, some ice and you'll be fine."  
Kevin speaks up, standing up beside the Coach, "With all due respect sir do you really want to risk that it might be something serious and that if he plays tomorrow it could only get worse."  
With a sigh and a curse under his breath, he voices his solution, "Tell Kristy she's on the bench and Anderson's starting at 15. And you still put ice on that Grassi," he points at the now silent boy on the ground.  
As he leaves the room, Scott offers Mitch a hand up, then he and Kevin "help" him leave the locker room, and let go of him as they arrive in front of the other three.  
"Congratulations on your first cap* Kirstie," Beauden starts. "He'll sub you on as soon as I miss," he nods surely then steps away and leaves past the corner, giving her a small smile as he leaves.  
"I told you he respected you," Avi says to Kirstie with a growing smile.  
Kirstie nods, "I guess he does," she breaks into a small smile herself and leans in to give Avi a quick hug. She immediately pulls away from him as she realises what she'd done and jumps in to hug Mitch, followed by Scott then Kevin, "Yay! I'm getting my first cap!" she cheers.  
"And I'm not playing!" Mitch grins, jumping up and down with Kirstie.  
"I actually wonder why you're on the team," Scott laughs, clapping Mitch on the shoulder to stop his hopping.  
"Because you told me it would be fun, and I'm not a quitter, so there," Mitch shrugs.  
"And yet you keep getting put on to start, Mitch you're good, imagine how good you could be if you cared," Kirstie offers him a warm smile.  
"Maybe I'll care when we start winning," Mitch offers, "And now that you're gonna be playing we actually have a shot."  
"Having two good players is twice as good as only having one," Scott nods with a smirk.  
"Oh no shit," Mitch lightly shoves him. "But you know you just insulted yourself there."  
"Yeah well I know I'm average, so is Kevin and Avi, and every other player on the team, but Kirstie and Beauden are good, this is gonna be a good season."

*cap: term for a game. Eg. Beauden Barrett has played 69 games for the Hurricanes, he has 69 caps for the Hurricanes.

 **A/N: Woo, there it is, I hope you liked it, and keep an eye out I may just update this again within the next 24 hours ;D**


	8. Number Eight

**A/N: So I didn't update it that soon, only because I'm struggling a little with this one, I'm having a bit of a block, so if you guys have any ideas, any at all no matter how big or small please let me know they will be greatly appreciated :)**

 **Also if you want you can check out a video on youtube called "Beauden Barrett at his best against Crusaders" it has a bit of what I talk about here so that you can get an understanding and always see just how amazing Beaudy is :)  
PS just ignore the fact that he's actually a really good kicker lol :P**

 **Chapter 8: Number Eight**

During the warm up Avi ran after the ball that Kirstie kicked through the goal posts, one after the other at every possible angle.  
The Cobra's Coach had to keep telling the boys to get back to their warms ups as they stopped to watch her every now and then. But the team warming up on the other side was awestruck, that was a girl and she was actually good, and she was actually going to play.  
As Avi passed the ball back to Kirstie after the last kick, he wished her good luck before he ran past her back into the changing room to get out of training kit and into playing kit, which basically meant the boys were going to change their shirts from black to yellow for the game.  
Kirstie took the ball passing it from hand to hand as she walked over to the bench where coach was. She walked straight past him though and up to the actual bench. She gets up on it on her knees to reach up and hug her best friends, Marley followed by Esther.  
"How come you came out changed and they didn't?" Marley asks.  
"Because they sweat more than I do, but it's also so I don't have to worry about finding somewhere else to change. I change when they come out here first then I warm up with them then I wait while they change. It's not so bad," she shrugs.  
"But what about like the team pep talk?" Esther frowns.  
"Yeah I know that happens, Beauden always says he doesn't know what to say, and maybe he really doesn't because they always loose," she trials off as she leans back in her seat.  
"Okay, way to bring the mood down Marls," Kirstie laughs nervously.  
She shakes her head, "Sorry."  
"It's okay. But you know I didn't even think about the pep talk," she turns back to Esther, "I guess I'll just go back in there when Coach does," she smiles.  
Marley points at where Coach was, "He's gone."  
Kirstie spins around and her face falls when she notices that he is in fact gone. "Oh," she turns right around and drops down to sit on the bench with a sigh.

Soon enough the opposition team runs out on the field on their side, followed by the Cobra's team from their home tunnel. The 15 men run onto the field, Beauden first, and the reserves run over to sit with Kirstie, all to the cheering of the 2000 strong crowd. The stadium was built for twenty-thousand. And just over half the crowd was in yellow.  
Kirstie turned her gaze away from the crowd as the ref dressed in pink blew the whistle for kick off.  
"This is actually a pretty good turnout," Esther comments as they watch the ball fly through the air from the opposition Bears territory and into Scott's hands when he was lifted by the props. But as he hits the ground the ball slips from his grasp and the other team having run with the ball catches up before a Cobra can keep it in hand.  
And now the defence is on, and Kirstie notices they're actually defending well until a Bear practically runs right over Todrick and then the try line. Kirstie drops her head into her hands, then fells a comforting hand on her back she didn't know who's but it didn't make that much of a difference.  
The Bears convert for two more points and then it time to start all over again, this time the Cobra's kick off and this Kirstie has to watch. Beauden's technique is flawed, but his aim that needs work, but only with the goal posts, he hits ground when he made this kick, and that's always a good thing.

The game is about eight minutes in when the Bears dressed in red are seven points ahead and rushed once more at the flawed Cobra line, when they throw a pass right into Kevin's back disturbing the play and leaving the ball wide open for Beauden to grab.  
He takes it and runs and no one catch him for what might as well be miles before he dots it down right under the goal post. He knows he can kick off a tee from there. With a big smile on his face he receives congratulations hugs from a couple of the Cobras who were with him on the run, Darrien and then Avi.  
But the small crowd is as loud as they can be, and Kirstie is pretty sure half the noise is from Marley alone. And when Beauden actually makes the conversion the crowd is louder, but game time looks bleaker for Kirstie.

When Beauden miss-kicks the ball, it didn't reach touch which means the Bears took it for a run and got another try, putting them ahead just before half time. The Cobra's already looked defeated, they needed a pick me up and Coach was going to have to talk to them in the 15 minute break.  
This time Kirstie sprints ahead, getting called in the right direction by Avi when she runs too far. She sheepishly stands between him and Scott in the changing room as coach talks.  
"You boys are doing really well out there, but Anderson you're sleeping, you're the last line of defence, you hang back to stop them, not to watch them run past you. You got that second try, by a lucky pass that Olusola sent you on a brilliant offload. That could have been anyone, you were there at the right time, but boy those bears are running rings around you, if you had Barrett's speed-"  
Beauden takes a step forward, "He doesn't need my speed, that spot needs my speed, put me there and put Kirstie on for the second half at 10. At 10 she doesn't get tackled half as much if you're worried about her getting hurt. Then there's I've missed four penalties, I only got the conversions because they were under the post. So bring Kirstie on," he nods once, surely before he takes a step back.  
"Fine," Coach sighs, "Maldonado on, Anderson off," he claps once, "Now get your asses back out there… Kevin I don't want to hear a word on my language so put that hand down."

With a Cobra perfected backline everyone is ready to play again.  
"What's she doing out here?" A Bear asks when Kirstie receives the ball for first kick off, the reserve number 22 on her back.  
"Playing," Scott yells back with smirk in his voice.  
"How's it fair to tackle her!?"  
"Just play like normal boys!" she yells back as she drops the ball onto her foot to send it sailing in the air

 _"Another side line penalty from Kirstie! How does she do it? Barrett never could, in fact you saw that earlier in the game."  
"We sure did. It's funny isn't it John, you wouldn't expect this from a girl."  
"Expect what?"  
"For her to come out playing like one of the boys, she making making and taking those tackles better than half her team. Lewis went off just moments ago for what could be a finger strain, that's a little sad if you me, back in the day you kept going with concussion let alone a finger strain John."  
"Tell me about it Greg, tell me about it. But you know what I think needs to be mentioned, this extra leg Beauden Barrett's grown, he is everywhere and has set up two more un met tries since the first one this half, that's three Greg, three he set up for his team. Scored by Hall, Kaplan and well Kaplan again."  
"Yes Avi Kaplan, always in the right place at the right time, feeding off Barrett who now with the kicking responsibilities gone has turned into a complete and total machine, he was good before, now he is nothing short of brilliant. This team is going to go on to win, one game down, a tournament to go."_

 ** _...crouch…set…bind…_**

Once Kirstie was sure all the noise of the boys had died down as they all slowly petered out, still grinning from the victory, going to off to celebrate in groups: she stood up from the locker room benches and walked into the showers.  
She turned the corner and stopped when she saw Avi still leant against one of the shower walls in just a towel. He gave her a smile and she gave him a nervous one back.  
"I thought you'd all left?"  
"Are you really going to include me in that bunch?" he chuckles, slowly shaking his head as he steps towards her.  
"You're a boy, you're included in the boy bunch," she smirks up at him.  
"Yeah but I'm the boy that you wouldn't slap if you caught him looking," he bites his tongue to try and stop his smirk.  
She shrugs, "You never know, I might just to keep up appearances. And besides that's why I decided to wait till they were all gone. I could talk to them while they were waiting or when they were done, celebrate with them, I wouldn't have gotten that if I'd gone back to my dorm bathroom."  
"You know the positive that I'll take out of that, the fact the guys wanted to celebrate with you, you were so worried about that, the acceptance, but I knew that after the first win you'd have them enchanted."  
She raises an eyebrow, "Enchanted?"  
"I said it, I'm sticking by it," he smiles.  
With a smirk still in place Kirstie steps aside to drop all her items on the bench next to them. "Why do you always have to go and say the nicest things to me Avi?" she asks with a hint of laughter in her voice as she turns away from him to pull her game shirt off over her head then drop her shorts. She'd already changed out of her rugby boots and long socks earlier leaving her in her flip-flops, sports bra and underwear when she turns around to face Avi again.  
She looks him up and down before she speaks again, "If you've got anything on under that towel you better change that asap."  
Unable to contain his smirk he shrugs, "This is it, just towel."  
"Good."

 **A/N: So that was extra-long and I hope it made sense :P**

 **Please comment and maybe give me some ideas, like I said before, they'd be greatly appreciated :)**

 **Love Hannah.**


	9. Half Back

**A/N: This one's for you KickinItForever2812 ;D I didn't clear 900 words, but it's what you've been waiting for :)**

 **Chapter 9: Half-back**

Avi slowly opened the door to his dorm room with Kirstie shadowing behind him. He glances over the dark room, Kevin's bed was flat, and his desk was empty, so he hadn't fallen asleep in either spot.  
Flicking the light on Avi backs into the room with a smile on Kirstie, leading her in with one hand clasped in his.  
As she kicks the door shut behind them he leans into place a kiss on her lips. But she jumps a mile, slamming into the door and screams, making Avi yell out then cover his mouth as he jumps himself finding his eyes landing on his roommate who had been behind the door.  
"Oh my god Kevin!" he yells out in freight, putting his hand to his heart.  
Kevin crosses his arms with an 'are you kidding me' look locked on his face.  
"This is not what it looks like," Kirstie practically squeaks out then covers her mouth at the odd sound.  
"You two better explain why you're coming into what is my room to, to make out at-" he turns his arm up to look at his watch, "It's almost eleven."  
"That's not even that late Kevin," Avi tries to laugh, but it comes out sounding strangled. "Why didn't you go out to celebrate with Mitch and Scott?" he asks his voice going oddly high for him which causes Kirstie to turn to him in shock.  
"That is not the point Avi."  
"It is so," Avi argues.  
Kevin gives him a look before he speaks again, "I need an explanation from you two right now."  
"Or just him," Kirstie points at Avi beside her before she grabs the door handle and swings it open to crash against the wall, making the three of them cringe before she runs out yelling her goodbyes.  
The two guys watch her leave before they turn back slowly to look at each other. "I guess that's that," Avi pulls up a big cheesy smile that is met with yet another look from his best friend.  
"You are still here. You can still explain why you and Kirstie were about to kiss."  
"I can't, she told me not to," he points over his shoulder.  
Kevin steps across to shut the door and lean against it so that Avi had no way of escaping his questions. "Avi tell me everything."  
"How much do you know?" Avi raises an eyebrow as his smile slowly fades.  
"I know you had a girl in here the other day, was that Kirstie?"  
With a sigh Avi nods.  
Kevin runs his hand down his face, "Why? How?"  
"It kinda just happened Kev."  
He shakes his head then takes a deep breath before his next question, "So are you two dating now then?"  
"No, unfortunately not," Avi frowns just slightly.  
"Wait what? But you slept together didn't you?"  
"Yes we did, we have several times but we're not together," Avi answers in a strained tone as he runs his hand across the top of hair that was tied back reasonably neat since he'd redone it after the steamy shower with Kirstie.  
"That's not you Avi."  
"Don't you think I know that?!" He bursts, "This, this KILLS me Kev, I don't do this and yet here I am just sleeping with a girl that's not my girlfriend. He drops his hands to his sides, clearly frustrated.  
"Why can't you two just date then, ask her out I know her and Jeremy didn't break up that long ago, and he'll probably try to murder you in your sleep at an away game… but other than that I don't see-"  
"She doesn't want to date me because she's scared of what the team will think."  
"You're kidding right?"  
"No Kevin I'm not kidding, and this is actually a pretty legit standing she's got. I mean I told her otherwise but that's only because I want to date her real bad. I'm not the guy who just does sex Kevin, what is wrong with me? Why am I doing this?" he asks stepping closer and closer to his best friend and grabbing his shoulders, "Why?"  
"Because you like her and you've, somewhere I the back of your mind, decided that you want to be with in any way that you can and right now this is it. It's horrible and unholy but-"  
"Oh it is not horrible," Avi says breaking into a smirk.  
"And there we are," he gestures at Avi, "Unholy. Normally I wouldn't say this, but you are my best friend and I've known you forever, so I know this isn't you. But in saying that because I know this isn't you I'm going to encourage you and keep this… unholy… secret because I know you'll find a way out of the pit you've dug and into the relationship you desire." He releases a breath he didn't know he was holding as he looks at Avi's small but genuine smile.  
"Thank you Kevin, that means a lot," Avi nods.  
"Well don't get used to it, if you ever do it again I'm disowning you," he points at his best friend, "Do you hear me?"  
"Loud and clear."  
Kevin breaks into a smile, "Good, then go get her."

 **A/N: What did you all think about a little bit of meat and potatoes? ;)**

 **Please, vote and comment and make my day (in all honesty comments make it just a little brighter ;P)**

 **Love Hannah.**


	10. Two Try's

**A/N: Is it too late now to say sorry? Sorry… *sheepishly smiles at you all*  
I did really want to update this, but I just didn't have the inspiration until now, and even this was tough going, at the 400 word mark I was so surprised to find it was ****_only_** **400, especially seeing as I like to make it to the 1000 because that's a decent sized chapter to me.  
So yeah, I'm super sorry, but here it is, finally. But just saying if you want more frequent updates from me, your ideas would be great, even just something you want to see.  
My problem is that I know where I'm going, I just need to figure out how to get there.**

 **Chapter 10: Two Try's**

"We had a win this weekend, that doesn't guarantee us another one this weekend. We're playing the Reds on Saturday, they're currently third on the table, and we're third… to last."  
"That's two better than last Coach!" Sam calls out with a big grin.  
"Sure Sam, sure," Coach nods as he goes on to continue, "This game will be no easy feat… Hoying where's Grassi?"  
Jumping in his spot, Scott looks to his left, where Mitch would usually sit; instead Avi was there, "Um… Oh his leg still hurts from last week… yeah," he nods slowly as he scans over the room quickly before looking back at Coach.  
"He didn't break it, he's rested, he should still be here," Coach sighs, "Never mind, just make sure he's here tomorrow."  
Scott nods and breaths what seems to be a sigh of relief.  
As Coach starts to rattle on again about the game on Saturday, Avi leans closer to Scott to whisper to him, "Still hungover?"  
"Not still, again," Scott clarifies, "I only drank half as much as him last night and I feel half dead, he must be like full dead… but not."  
"Because that makes complete sense," Avi says dryly as he sits back up.  
"Sorrrrrrrry," Scott says in a whine that makes Avi cringe and Coach stop talking, and then everyone else in the room turn to him. "Oh… no that was only meant to be heard by Avi."  
Avi reels back offended, "Don't me down with you!"  
"I have no idea what that was, and I have no interest in finding out, so Hoying, Kaplan, go outside and take a lap."  
"But Coach it's raining?!" Scott complains as he stands up with Avi.  
Avi slowly turns to Scott giving him an 'are you kidding me' look, closely followed by an 'I'm going to kill you' look with Coach's next words.  
"That's two, speak again and you'll get three, both of you now!" he points at the door and Avi shoves Scott forward towards the exit.  
Kirstie watches them both, trying to keep the smile off her face, which becomes easy once Coach starts to drone on again.  
It's about when Scott and Avi get back, completely out of breath, and soaked that Coach finishes up telling them they can leave and that he'll see them _all_ at training tomorrow. He gives Scott a look, that he knows means he needs to get Mitch here tomorrow or else.  
"It won't be a late night tonight, that's for sure," Scott laughs, while Kirstie, Avi and Kevin half join in.  
"He's still on the phone," Kevin points, getting their attention off Scott and onto their team Captain who was sat on the bench just along the side of the changing rooms. He had his phone to pone ear and was leaning on his other hand with his eyes squeezed shut as he listened. Marley was also sitting beside him looking in the other direction with her owl backpack on her back. I was almost like she was trying real hard not to listen to the conversation that Beauden was having, and was clearly frustrated about.  
"Who do you reckon is so important that he left a Coach talk for them?" Scott asks as they watch from their distance.  
"Originally I thought it was Marley," Kirstie says as she squints slightly in concentration.  
"Could be family, I mean I'd leave anything if they called me," Avi states. "And for him it's more of a big deal with the time difference."  
"What time difference?" Scott asks dumbly.  
Avi gives him a sideways look in resist to rolling his eyes, "You can't tell me that you haven't realised that he's not American Scott," he says bluntly.  
"No I knew that, he's from… Oh so his parents could be calling from New Zealand and the time difference normally screws that up… got it," the blonde nods surely with a smile on his face.  
Their attention is forced back to Beauden and Marley when he jumps up so quickly that she almost falls off the bench in fright.  
A few curses escape his mouth and Marley shrinks back in her seat, she was quite possibly worse with the whole 'no swearing thing' than Kevin was, and that was saying something.  
Beauden swings his arm back that had his phone in his hand, and for once in her life, Marley is quicker than him and leaps up to take the phone from his hand before he can throw it. He must have said something before he did it because otherwise there was no way she could have beaten him to the action.  
The watching four have to try not to laugh as she starts playing a game of keep away with him, she realised quick that he was taller and so holding it high wouldn't work, he had quick reflexes, so going lower wasn't successful. It wasn't until she pulled out the neckline of her dress ever so slightly and dropped the phone in that Beauden just stopped. They both just stood there looking at each other.  
"I have to know what's going on," Kirstie tells the boys as she marches on forward, the three of them hesitating a moment before following her. "Beauden, what was that?" she asks confidently, crossing her arms as she comes to a stop.  
His eyes don't leave his girlfriend, "She just put my phone down her top."  
"Then get it out you chicken," Scott frowns.  
Beauden and Marley both turn with looks of evil on their faces to look at Scott. Ahh clearly Scott had never picked up on the situation that had been with Beauden and Marley since the beginning, Beauden would happily get that phone out, Marley would however… not let him.  
"That's not what I meant, I can see that she put her phone in the no-go zone, I want to know why?" she raises an eyebrow.  
"Because he was going to throw it, which would not have helped the situation at all," Marley speaks up as she turns back to Beauden. "And you're going to ask which situation, which I would actually like to know too," she folds her arms with her eyes trained on her boyfriend.  
With a sigh and a shake of his head Beauden speaks, "In a couple of months' time I have to be in New Zealand for my brothers 30th, you're probably thinking oh how nice while I'm thinking oh shit," he clasps his hands together as he speaks. "Because if we happen to make it through this stage of the competition, I won't be there for the Quarter Finals game. I know I'm thinking ahead, but after last night I have to, I can't help but think ahead. It's a knock out round and I can't not be here for that."  
"Then tell them you can't go, I mean they're huge on Rugby right?" Kirstie asks.  
"All my brothers play rugby, you'd think they understand, but you see they all live there and they play Super Rugby, which is a huge deal in New Zealand, so my measly little team doesn't matter in comparison. Basically my mum doesn't want to know me if I don't show up to Kane's birthday and go and watch him play for the Blues, which is shit cause I don't even support the Blues."  
"Yes, because that's the big problem with that sentence," Avi says deadpan.  
"You're so funny Avi," Beauden rolls his eyes, "I have to go back because I don't want to find out if my mum is serious or not, okay. I'm really sorry," he sighs.  
"It's okay, we might not even make it that far," Kirstie says. "And if we do, we'll figure it out, we'll give Mitch extra lessons, we'll pick out a reserve and basically turn him into you," she points to the captain, "It'll all work out in the end," she shrugs.


	11. Winger

**A/N: I've written almost 300 words on my essay, and to do that I had to scroll through Kim Kardashian's Twitter, and so for that I think I deserve a break. So you guys get and early update of this, enjoy :)**

 **Chapter 11: Winger**

Scott stood fast with a training pad attached to his arm, he unnecessarily tucks his head away as Kirstie runs at him in a practice tackle against the pad. Scott takes a step back with the small force then stands up straight to look at the female member of the team looking up at him with her arms crossed.  
"Hit back Scott!" she scolds him, "I won't break, this…" she gestures between them, "…what you're doing is just pissing me off."  
"I'm standing my ground, Kirstie if I hit back you'll hit the ground. Avi doesn't hit as hard as I do because it's not part of his position."  
"So Scott, I'm still going to be tackled by the other teams Lock's, I'm not just going to be tackled by the number 13. Tomorrow I'm going to train with Mario to practice getting hit by a Prop."  
"Yeah okay that's insane, no one likes training with Mario, Kevin is just too nice to say no," Scott laughs slightly as they both look over right as Mario runs at Kevin who was holding a training pad and gets knocked clean over when he gets hit.  
"And that will hurt, I know that, but I still need to know what to expect."  
Scott nods slowly, "That's fair."  
"Exactly, so tackle me, don't hold back, give me the thing," she holds out her arms for the tackle pad as Scott detaches it from his arm and hands it to her.  
"You look smaller than Darrien behind it," he laughs as he watches her take her stance.  
"Shut up and hit me you moron," she laughs and braces herself as Scott tenses, ready to sprint at her.  
Screwing her eyes shut, Kirstie is sure she's ready for the coming hit.  
Scott runs straight at her, getting up to the full speed allowed in the short distance there was between them. He hits the pad with an open arm tackle, sending Kirstie straight over onto her back  
and completely knocking the wind out of her.  
"Oh crap," Kirstie gasps, she reaches up with her empty hand to clutch at her chest as she tries to catch her breath.  
Scott drops to his knees beside her, "See, I told you this would happen," he says with nervous laughter.  
"Yep, I should have listened," she says between breaths, still lying flat on the ground.  
"If you can't take a hit then you shouldn't be on the team," a smug voice comes from someone that she can't see. Beauden kneels at her other side, but the voice wasn't his, it was he who showed up after the Captain, with his arms crossed and the smuggest look on his face, Jeremy.  
"Are you okay Kirstie?" Beauden asks, he doesn't look concerned exactly, more frustrated, but whether that was because of Kirstie, or because he'd been training with Jeremy all morning, she didn't know.  
Beauden pulls the pad from her as Scott offers her a hand up, he ends up taking both and just pulling her completely up, holding her steady.  
"You're definitely going to need to practice taking some more hits," Beauden tells her before he throws the tackling pad at Jeremy, hitting him square in the face.  
"Sure, sure, just get that thing away from me, it's face makes me want to vomit," she nods towards Jeremy whose smirk drops.  
"Get lost Jeremy," Beauden says without looking over at him. "Send Avi over here and you can finish training with Alex."  
"Fine, whatever, I don't want to train with any of you anyway." Jeremy says with a sulk as he starts to wander away, slowly.  
"Yeah not such a clever thing to say to the captain aye?" Beauden raises an eyebrow, "Mate, if you can't work with your teammates, you don't get to play with your teammates. So I'd watch your mouth if I were you." He turns back to face Kirstie and Scott, and Jeremy doesn't say another word as he leaves to send Avi over.  
"It's good being friends with the Captain," Scott jokes, jokingly whacking Beauden's arm.  
"Ha!" Beauden laughs, "Score a try and then we'll talk," he smiles.  
Scott pulls a shocked face, "That's cold."  
"Hey well I haven't scored a try, does that mean I'm not your friend either?" Kirstie pulls on a pout.  
"Well, this is where it's complicated, I'm dating your best friend so I have to say your my friend to make her happy, but score a try and like I said to him, we'll talk," he chuckles.  
"Wait you are joking right?" Scott asks suddenly.  
"Yes Scott, I'm joking," Beauden says with a nod.  
"What do you need me for?" Avi asks as he walks up behind them.  
"For size difference, Kirstie just took a hit from Scott, next she's gonna take one from me, then you, see where's at, coping wise," Beauden answers as if it were simple.  
"FYI, she didn't take my hit well," Scott raises his hand.  
"Oh, are you okay?" Avi asks, turning his full attention on Kirstie.  
"You can't ask her that every time she's going to get hit," Beauden interrupts. "Getting tackled is part or the game, you need to be able to take the hit and then get right back up. No one can help you because they're still going to be focused on the game."  
"Unless you're injured," Scott adds matter of factly.  
Beauden turns to him slowly, "Thank you for stating the obvious Scott."  
"You're welcome… oh, oops," he frowns as he realises he wasn't actually being thanked. "I'm having an off day."  
"Aren't you always?" Avi asks as he tries not to laugh at his own joke.  
"Okay guys, lets quit mucking around, this is still training after all," Beauden interrupts them. "Let's get to it." He spins around to look for Coach and when he spots him he cups his hands around his mouth to call out, "Coach! We're gonna help Kirstie with her… tackles!" he drops his hands to the Coach the thumbs up, which he returns so Beauden turns back to his teammates. "We're good to go."  
Scott picks up the tackle pad and passes it to Kirstie, "You're gonna need this," he tells her as Beauden crouch's, ready.  
Before Kirstie can attach the pad to her arm he tackles her straight to the ground. He's off and up quickly, while Kirstie still lies on the ground.  
"I'm going to need so much ice after this!" she says as she sits up and finally stands up, ready for Avi to take his turn.  
"If you don't tackle her for real Kaplan, I will tackle you," Beauden tells him, "You are not doing her any favours by going easy on her." As he barely finishes his sentence Avi slams into Kirstie, pulling her to the ground the hops up quickly. Kirstie again takes too long to get up.  
"He's going to make us keep going until you get up faster, come on Kirst, you can do it," Scott nods, crouching as Kirstie readies herself for the hit.

 _...crouch…bind…set…_

Marley opened the door to her dorm room to find her roommate lying on her bed, covered in ice packs.  
Pulling back a smile, Marley closes the door behind her and skips over to Kirstie's bed, "What happened here?"  
"You're stupid-ass boyfriend decided I needed to practice taking hits," she winces as one of her ice packs slips. "I must have gotten hit about a dozen times before I got up quick enough for him, just because he's a freaking rugby-ninja!"  
"You'll get tackled more than that in the game though Kirst, really I'm sure this is just Beauden's way of looking out for you," she shrugs as she sits down on the edge of Kirstie's bed.  
"I'm sure that that was just his way at getting back at me for taking his spot," she laughs, until she groans in pain.  
"I hope they're not expecting you back at practice tomorrow, I mean this is just after right? And you can barely move. It'll only be worse in the morning."  
"Oh no shit!" she sighs.  
"Kirstin, language!"  
"Sorry!" she groans, closing her eyes in frustration.

 **A/N: With some of the hits I see rugby players take, I'm surprised they get back up at all :o  
I hope you enjoyed the chapter, we explored an obstacle of Kirstie's and had a Kirstie/Scott chat :D What did you all think?**

 **Hannah.**


	12. Inside Centre

**A/N: Well it's Tuesday and that's three stories that I didn't update on time, writing an essay really screws with your creativity, too bad I've got an entire term of essays now :P  
And I gotta know, is it just me, or do birthday's not feel like birthday's as you get older, I'm 20 now! And today was dreadfully dreary. I got some new clothes and my sister told me that I'm starting to dress too much like Avi… wow, I hadn't even noticed, but yep I've accumulated quite the collection of plaid shirts, I have a problem!**

 **Chapter 12: Inside-Centre**

1\. Michael Kerbela (Loosehead Prop)

2\. Joey Richards (Hooker)

3\. Mario Jose (Tighthead Prop)

4\. Jeremy Lewis (Number-4 Lock)

5\. Scott Hoying (Number-5 Lock)

6\. Ryder Lynn (Blindside-flanker)

7\. Sam Evans (Openside-Flanker)

8\. Alex Kirk (Number Eight)

9\. Darrien Koop (Scrum-Half)

10\. Kirstie Maldonado (Fly-Half)

11\. Jake Puckerman (Left-Wing)

12\. Kevin Olusola (Inside-Centre)

13\. Avi Kaplan (Outside-Centre)

14\. Todrick Hall (Right-Wing)

15\. Beauden Barrett (Fullback)

Reserves:

16\. Dave Karofsky (Loosehead Prop)

17\. Noah Puckerman (Hooker)

18\. Roderick Meeks (Tighthead Prop)

19\. Finn Hudson (Lock)

20\. Spencer Porter (Flanker)

21\. Blaine Anderson (Half)

22\. Mike Chang (Utility Back)

23\. Mitch Grassi (Utility Back)

Kirstie almost drops to her knees as she reads her name in a starting position for the game. Kevin and Avi, pull her half fallen person that they'd caught away from the board so that their team mates could look.  
"I'm starting," she manages to get out, her smile growing.  
"You're starting," Avi replies with his own smile.  
"Well if you weren't, that would make coach an unwise man," Kevin says with a hint of laughter in his voice as he helps her to stand fully upright.  
"Oh my gosh! Kevin watch you're language! He might just hear you saying such harsh things about him," Avi says with a straight face, but in such a tone that they knew he was joking.  
"You're so funny Avi," he rolls his eyes before lowering his voice. "And if you two are going to go and "celebrate" then please put a sign on the door, or something so I know not to enter," he says, using bunny air fingers on 'celebrate,' before he turns and walks quickly away before they can say anything back to him.  
Kirstie shrugs, barely turning to face Avi. "I could go for a _celebration_ ," she laughs, nudging him in the side.  
"I'm busy," Avi says before walking off himself.  
Kirstie watches after him with a frown, he was usually up for it. Trying not to think too much on it, she walks over to Beauden and taps him the shoulder taking him from his conversation.  
He turns around with his eyebrows raised.  
"I haven't heard from Marls, do you remember what time she was supposed to be leaving to go visit her mom?"  
"She's already gone, left this morning."  
"Right," she nods slowly, "I might have to find Esther then, that one barely ever answers my texts these days, I need to find out why."  
Beauden watches her with confusion for a moment, "Well I don't know why, you're friends with her brother, go ask him."  
She shakes her head, "No, I think I upset him, I don't know what I did though."  
"You can't be upsetting the team members Kirstie, we need him fully focused tomorrow," he says with a sigh.  
"He will be, I'll figure the whole thing out, don't you worry," she reaches up to pat him on the shoulder then turns and silently walks out of the training shed.

 _…crouch…bind…set…_

Kirstie walked into the campus bookstore, and sure enough, there she was behind the counter. She moves further in and calls out to her friend.  
"Hey Esther," she smiles as she reaches the counter, and leans on it.  
"Oh hey Kirstie," she nods, with not much of a smile.  
"I'm just gonna come right out and say it, have you been avoiding me?"  
Esther freezes in her spot for a moment before shaking her head, "No, no way."  
"You hesitated!" she points at the be-speckled brunette.  
"I did not!"  
"Yes you did, you know something don't you," Kirstie eyes her suspiciously.  
"What is it that you think I know something about?"  
"No, you tell me what you know."  
"Are you keeping a secret from me?" Esther raises an eyebrow, leaning closer to the smaller blonde.  
Kirstie's mouth drops and stumbles over her answer, "N-no!"  
Esther points at her, "You hesitated. Okay Kirstie, we're good friend, and we shouldn't keep things from each other, so you tell me what you're keeping from me, and I'll tell you why I've been avoiding you."  
"So you have been avoiding me! Ha!" Kirstie almost cheers before she stops to turn back to Esther, "No I can't tell you mine, I specifically told him not to tell you, so I think it'd upset him if I just went and told."  
"So it's true then," the small hint of a smile she had drops.  
"What did you hear?" she asks softly, watching Esther's head droop downwards.  
"That you'd been seen leaving his room several times."  
"Esther it's," she pauses, because it's exactly that, she can't say it's not, she can't she's sating her brother because she's not.  
"I thought you knew Kirstie, you were always teasing me about it, always like there must be truth to it cause you never shut up about him! Oh my god… I might cry," she pushes her glasses up onto her head as her hands slide up to cover her eyes.  
Kirstie watches her in sheer confusion, "What are yo-"  
"I like him Kirstie, I really do okay!" she almost yells out, "I can't believe you'd do this me!"  
"Do what, Esther I'm confused, how can you like your brother that's just fucking weird!"  
Esther immediately drops her hands her eyes wide, she was almost furious now, no longer ready to cry, "You're sleeping with Avi!"  
Kirstie takes a step back in shock, "Oh… you thought it was Kevin."

 **A/N: Yeah, so sorry if that was confusing, it makes sense to me and so yeah. I hope you liked it, and if you did please make the remainder of my birthday happy with a review XD**

 **Hannah :)**


	13. Outside-Centre

**A/N: Today was a great day, well yesterday now, the 9** **th** **of September. It was great, I went to the airport with a hope of maybe getting a glimpse of PTX arriving , I left with a picture with Scott, and one with Avi and the realisation that was quite probably one of the happiest days of my life so far!  
(A slightly longer story is on my wattpad page which is the same name as this account, and I'm working on something else that I might publish about my experience after I've been to the concert too :)**

 **Chapter 13 : Outside-Centre**

Kirstie pulls on Esther's arm, trying to stop her, "No come on please, he can't know I told you!" She pulls harder and Esther ends up taking a forced step backwards.  
"Let go!" she shouts, trying to pull away from the short blonde. As a quick decision she gives in to Kirstie for just a moment before she pulls back, letting Kirstie fall on her butt, and herself make her quick getaway.  
Esther runs all the way to Avi and Kevin's dorm room, managing to just stay ahead of Kirstie the whole time. She bangs on the door, gasping for air.  
As Avi opens the door, Kirstie tackles his sister to the floor, straddling the girl to cover her mouth.  
She turns to Avi with a smile, "Nothing to see here, just go back inside, close the door behind you.  
Avi raises an eyebrow at her, watching her turn away before he steps up behind her; he bends down to wrap his arms around her waist and easily pulls her off Esther.  
"Nooo!" she whines, "You shouldn't have done that."  
Esther sits up, still gasping for air when Avi offers her a hand up, using his other arm to keep Kirstie away.  
"What is going on?" he asks.  
"Nothing," Kirstie yells.  
"What makes you think it's okay to be screwing my best friend?!" she jabs a finger against Avi's chest.  
"Excuse me, what?" he says with wide eyes.  
"Don't play dumb, Kirstie told me everything," she jabs him again.  
"I did not, she figured it out, and she likes Kevin!"  
Avi starts shaking his head quickly, "Nope, no you can't."  
"Kirstie! No why would you tell him that?!" She stomps her foot.  
"You can't like Kevin!" Avi says quickly.  
"You can't like Kirstie!"  
"I can if I want,"  
"He doesn't," Kirstie and Avi speak at the same time then turn quickly to look at each other.  
"What?" they both say together.  
"Oh great, it's complicated too," Esther rolls her eyes as she leans against the wall, watching the two.  
"You like me?" Kirstie asks in surprise.  
"Can we not talk about my feelings right now," Avi sighs, "There are more pressing matters, like my sister wanting to date my best friend," he turns from Kirstie to Esther.  
"You are such a hypocrite Avriel!" the brunette taunts.  
"Noooooo! He complains.  
"Your full name is Avriel?" Kirstie laughs.  
"You are the devil," he points at his sister and she shrugs.  
"Did your parents hate you?" the blonde asks with laughter still in her voice.  
"They loved me very much okay," he pouts.  
"Avi, in all seriousness, why is it so bad that I like Kevin?"  
"Just because," he whines.  
"That's not a good reason, you have to give me a good one and then I'll leave it alone."  
"I just… because… but…" Avi sighs, looking down then back up at Esther, "I don't have a good reason."  
Esther smiles smugly at him, folding her arms in triumph.  
"That's the worst part there is absolutely no one better than him. Damn it, why does he have to be such a great guy," Avi pouts.  
"You wouldn't be friends with him if he wasn't, because you're the same kind of person, so I'm going to choose to look past whatever it is that you two have going on," she points at the two of them. "And that's worst part," she says, using her brothers words, "That I want to know everything because it's my best friend," she looks to Kirstie, "I then I actually want to know nothing because it's my brother," she turns a look on him as a smile creeps across his face.  
"Ha," he smirks.  
"Yeah ha, be quiet," she rolls her eyes with a hint of laughter in her voice. "I'm gonna say this though, whatever is going on, Avi I will kill you if you hurt her and Kirstie I will kill you if you hurt him. Am I clear?" she raises an eyebrow.  
They both nod quickly, Kirstie mock salutes her which Avi smiles at.  
Esther watches them, her gaze landing on Kirstie for longer, because she knew if anyone was going to hurt anyone in this situation it was going to be her brother.

 _…crouch…bind…set…_

 _"The Cobras are one point behind, but if Kirstin Maldonado makes this next side-line conversion that'll put them ahead for the final whistle."  
"The one kick she missed tonight was from almost exactly the same place off Koop's try. This time it's Kaplan's, let's see how she does."  
_ Kirstie lines the ball up on the tee and steps back to suss out the angle. She looks up at the goal post and goes to take a slight side step but the ball falls off and the (slightly bigger than last week) crowd let out a collective sigh of grief. That was the second time it had happened in the wind this shot, several others in the game, it was why her missed shot curved so much, wind.  
And as had happened previously, Beauden runs out onto the field to lie on the ground and steady the ball on the tee. He speeds over and drops, balancing the ball with two fingers and pulling his hand away a millisecond before Kirstie thumps the ball. It sails through the air and through the goal posts. The crowd and the team erupt into cheers and the siren goes off signalling the end of the game.  
Beauden gets up off the ground and Kirstie give to give him a hug but then stops, did rugby players do that? Yes, yes they did, all the guys jumped at Avi when he scored his try, Darien too. But she settles for a high five, it might have been weird if she hugged him.  
"It was weird you not scoring a try tonight Beauds," Kirstie laughs, lightly punching him in the shoulder as they walks towards the team.  
"Mmm, I did set those two up though, with your help of course. You passed to me, I found the gap then off-loaded, if you'd passed it to someone else first we may not have gotten those tries. We need to work on getting the guys to look for gaps a little more. They're relying too much on me to do the setting up and I keep doing it, but what are they gonna do for the game I'm not here for?"  
"Try something different, make it a game of penalties, I'll kick them all and we'll keep the other team scoreless."  
"No, I always felt that was a cowards way, Kiwi teams don't do that, so as long as I'm captain we won't be doing that."  
"I know, I wouldn't want to. I'm just glad to hear you say that," she smiles up at him and he returns it right as they reach the embrace of their teams cheers and praise for Kirstie.

 **A/N: This has been too long in the making, and I'm sorry. But it's here now yay :)**

 **I hope you liked it.**

 **Hannah.**


End file.
